dclegg: Having no optical drive makes it a PITA to get my CDs into iTunes so I can get 'em into my iPhone, or stream them to my Apple TV. I may be old fashioned, but I still prefer to purchase my music that way.

dclegg: Having no optical drive makes it a PITA to get my CDs into iTunes so I can get 'em into my iPhone, or stream them to my Apple TV. I may be old fashioned, but I still prefer to purchase my music that way.

+1

Same here. CDs should also last for years, I have some that work perfectly after nearly 30 years, and the quality is better than downloaded quality, and CDs are probably cheaper too.

Handsomedan: I've had this conversation on another forum but thought I'd bring it here as I would like to canvass others' opinions.

The new iMac range is coming out in the next week or so. They will not have optical drives built in. They will be thin. They will be more powerful. They will be roughly the same price as the old ones.

Does it bother you that there will be no optical drive? Should you have to buy an external drive so you can either import or export media to/from discs?

Personally, the lack of optical drive in the forthcoming iMac range is the reason I leapt into the recent purchase of the "old model". No optical drive was a deal breaker for me.

Thoughts?

I recently bought an ultrabook and the dealmaker was the one having an optical drive. All my manuals for work come on CD. These manuals are updated regularly which makes copying them to the ultrabook a PITA. Having an optical drive is an absolute necessity for me. I have plenty of other technical CD's with which I need to access from time to time and I don't want to have to muck around with an external CD drive, I want it built in with no fiddling about to plug it in or have to carry another thing around with the laptop.

My last laptop was bought with a 3.5 floppy drive, I don't have one of them any more and I guess the optical drive will eventually disappear but for now it's still a must have item for me.

You're right, they are basically just big screen laptops these days. They look quite nice, but I must admit that the latest verison is a bit fugly. If you want a proper computer that you can configure,the PC route is the way to go. A Bluray player/dvd burner is cheap as chips, and is the best way to watch high quality full HD content. Downloaded HD from itunes is pretty poor quality.

You're right, they are basically just big screen laptops these days. They look quite nice, but I must admit that the latest verison is a bit fugly. If you want a proper computer that you can configure,the PC route is the way to go. A Bluray player/dvd burner is cheap as chips, and is the best way to watch high quality full HD content. Downloaded HD from itunes is pretty poor quality.

The iMac hasn't ever really been configurable like a PC. That's the price of the form factor. To be honest I'm surprised they've retained the user-accessible RAM on the new models. I'm guessing you'll have to remove the screen to change the HDD though.

I actually am looking forward to the new iMacs. I have been wanting to upgrade from my 2009 MBP for a few months now but have been holding it off for the new updates. I was very impressed by the new updates to the iMacs.

Regarding the DVD drive, I had hardly used it on my MBP (doesnt mean I did not use it at all). I would miss it on the new iMac, but this is still not a deal breaker. I was thinking I would just get the external type and keep it for those days when I absolutely need to use a DVD drive. I have a PS3 with me where I can play my Blu Rays and Dvds (stopped buying DVDs a few months back and switched to Blu Rays).

Also, I should mention that one of the Apple Genius people in Sydney told me that I can use the iMac as a monitor - so I was planning to use the HDMI adapter to connect my PS3 to the iMac when I need to watch blu rays on there (or even play games on it).

Krishant007: Also, I should mention that one of the Apple Genius people in Sydney told me that I can use the iMac as a monitor - so I was planning to use the HDMI adapter to connect my PS3 to the iMac when I need to watch blu rays on there (or even play games on it).

That won't work on a new iMac, Target display mode is now a thundebolt only input, you will not be able to feed a source from a none thunderbolt device, (even with an adaptor)